


Valentine

by OldProf1942



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29389128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldProf1942/pseuds/OldProf1942
Summary: S2E1   Blind date? ... Babysitting? ... Valentine's Day? ... Erzulie? ... What next?
Relationships: Camille Bordey/Richard Poole
Comments: 10
Kudos: 19





	Valentine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweepeaspatch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweepeaspatch/gifts), [Isainparadise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isainparadise/gifts).



> Can Richard and Camille ever stop pushing each other away and finally have a meeting of the minds?

Valentines’ Day  
Ezulie Festival  
Baby Rosie  
Put Them All Together  
S2E1  
The real ending?  
**********  
Why did it trouble him so? What was so different about this encounter? Why the tension? Always the tension! From their very first meeting. He could feel every fiber in his body clench. It did not make any sense. She … she … she … was …. Why was she such a torment to him?  
He had sat there waiting for Fidel. Why had he let Catherine talk him into this? NO! Catherine had commanded him to babysit Rosie. Why? So that Fidel and Juliette could have a romantic night at the Erzulie Festival.  
He stared at his book. “Modern Methods of Forensic Science”.  
**********  
The look of surprise, and maybe, just maybe, one of pleasure that had passed across Camille’s face? But then it was all sorted out. He was waiting for Fidel. Babysitting. ‘No saying no to Catherine.’ Her blind date waiting.  
She goes. He goes. She looks. He looks.  
**********  
Still staring at his book, Richard sits at the Best’s small dining table in their immaculate rental bungalow. Baby Rosie is asleep in her parents’ bedroom only two steps away. It hadn’t been that long ago when Rosie, only minutes old, had spit up on Richard. The amazing aspect was that he hadn’t been all that distressed by the event. He had never thought of himself as a father. He had a very arm’s length relationship with his own father. Between his father’s military and foreign service careers and Richard being sent off to boarding school for a proper English gentleman’s education, they barely knew one another. Richard had no idea what it took to be a father. He had no idea what it would take to be a husband. For the first time he was troubled by this deficiency. Maybe it was because for the first time he really knew his coworkers. They had families. They had history. He had only his job.  
A cup of tea. Fidel had said that the fixin’s were on the counter by the stove. Richard set the pot to boil. He looked about. All was neat, tidy, sparkling clean. A well-organized home, the reflection of a well-ordered life. Richard was comfortable with Fidel. Disciplined. No surprises. And definitely, no shocks. A young man with a future. A young man any father would be proud of.   
Setting the tea tray on the dining table, he sat and stared at his book. Normally he would be excited at the prospect of increasing his forensic knowledge. … but something was missing. Something vast and all-encompassing was absent. Yet, Richard with all his deductive skills, could not or would not follow the trail of evidence. He stared with a sense of dread and mounting frustration.  
**********  
There was a very quiet tap at the front door. Richard looked at the door as if the door itself had made the sound. Then again, two taps. He rose, walked to the door and opened it. He stared. She stared back.  
“Camille?”  
“Richard.”  
They both continued staring.  
“Richard?”  
“Camille.”  
“May I come in?”  
“Well, I … I ... well ... the Bests know you so I am quite sure that they would not have any objection to your entering and being in their home even though they are not currently in residence and I am here only in the capacity of baby … baby … babysitter or … or … please come in.”  
“Thank you, Richard.”  
He closed the door, turned and they resumed staring.  
“Ah … Ah …” Gesturing at the table. “I was about to have tea; would you care to join me?”  
“I would love to Richard.”  
**********  
Richard guided Camille to a chair at the end of the table, withdrew it and helped her be seated. She looked so perfect. There was a faint scent of jasmine. He paused a moment before picking up the tea tray. He feared she would notice that his entire body was trembling.  
“I’ll be back momentarily, ah, ... I just need to top off the kettle and return it to a boil and get you … ah, you … you know, the other ... CUP yes, yes, for you, a cup for the tea.”  
Normally Camille would have been bemused by Richard’s fluster. But she was having her own case of the trembles.  
**********  
They sat at ninety degrees to each other. They turned to face one another. Each holding an ignored cup. These two mature, sophisticated, and worldly adults locked in the silence of two adolescents on a first date.  
“How did your date go?”  
“Good, good, ah, oh, about twenty minutes.”  
“Good, I’m glad. I know those blind date arranged type things, well, you said that all your mother’s fixups were disasters, and he was young and very handsome and well dressed and I’m very happy for you Camille. I’m truly pleased that you had a successful blind date. I am sure your mother will be most satisfied.”  
“Richard!” Camille’s whispered response was as effective as a scream.  
“What?”  
“I said that it lasted twenty minutes!”  
“Well, aren’t these blind dates just sort of meet and have a drink and if there is compatibility you arrange to do a real date at a later date?”  
With a sigh Camille explains that a blind date is a real date that usually involves a meal, entertainment, and such.  
“So, it’s a real date with someone you have never met. What is the ‘and such’ part?”  
“Depends on that compatibility thing.”  
“Oh. So… twenty minutes isn’t much in the way of compatibility?”  
“No Richard, none!”  
“Good. No, I mean I’m sorry.”  
“Really, Richard?”  
“No, I meant good.”  
More staring.  
**********  
Suddenly Camille looks up. “What was that?”  
“What? I didn’t hear anything Camille.”  
“Where is the baby Richard?”  
“Is she out of the crib?’ Richard’s head swivels as he speaks.  
“Richard, she's too small to even roll over, much less get out of bed! Where is her crib?”

**********  
Approaching the crib, they both can hear the baby mewling quietly.  
“Camille, why is she making that noise and why is her face all scrunchy?”  
“Well, monsieur babysitter, I do believe that the little lady has some excess gas. Here, put this towel over your shoulder. Now, pick Rosie up.”  
“Maybe you should do this.”  
“Why, Richard, because I’m a woman and this is woman’s work?”  
“No. No. It’s not that at all. It’s, well, when Rosie spit up on me shortly after she graced the world with her presence, well, that was the first and only time that I have held a baby. And, right now, I really don’t want to drop her. She is quite lovely.”  
Camille’s flash of anger evaporated. “Here, let me pick her up and I will hand her to you. There, let her rest against your shoulder. Now rub her back gently and now add some light pats. See it’s not very difficult.”  
“Oh my god, what is that smell?” gasps an incredibly surprised Richard.  
Camille, hand over her mouth suppressing laughter, is finally able to whisper. “What do you think?”  
“Oh well, at least her face has returned to normal. What do they feed this child?”  
Through her snickers and smirk Camille instructs Richard on the fine art of diaper changing and baby cleansing. “Richard, what would you have done if Rosie started crying? Call the Emergency Services?”  
“Certainly not. I’d have called the Bests.”  
“Did you tell my mother that you had no experience in childcare?”  
“She didn’t allow me to speak. At the end of her diatribe, she indicated that I should just nod an affirmative. And don’t you start on me, or at least not until I actually see and hear you say ‘NO’ to your mother.”  
“You’re right, Maman is formidable. Come let us tuck Rosie in all snug. Now sing her a lullaby.”  
“Camille, I don’t know any baby songs.”  
“Richard, you are half Welsh, you have a beautiful voice, the Welsh are renowned for their singing and their songs. Now please, for me?”  
“All I know in Welsh is ‘Men of Harlech’.”  
“Do you know ‘Frere Jacques’?”  
“Of course, every school child knows that.”  
“It is a lullaby, Richard. Now sing it with me, oui?”  
And so, they sang a French duet to Rosie Best.  
**********  
As the Bests strolled arm and arm to their home Fidel remarked, “I was really surprised that we didn’t get a dozen phone calls from the Chief.”  
“Fidel, you’re off duty, his name is Richard. And yes, I was surprised too. But Catherine insisted that he was the man for the job. And you’re always telling me how he constantly surprises you with his almost magical abilities.” Ascending the three stairs to their front porch, the young couple start to pass before the front room windows. Juliette pulls Fidel to an abrupt halt. They are greeted with an astonishing sight. Camille and Richard are seated at the corner of the dining table. All four of their hands are intertwined on the table and they gently kiss again and again and again. Now pressing their foreheads together, they both beam at one another.  
The Bests pull back and creep down the stairs. A few meters away, Fidel ventures. “Juliette, it’s a beautiful night my love, and we’re only a ten-minute stroll from Rocco’s. Can the budget stand a nightcap or two?”  
“Fidel, our budget always has room for love!”  
**********  
Valentine’s Day  
Erzulie Festival  
Baby Rosie  
A Potent Mix

**Author's Note:**

> They finally had that meeting! Now what?


End file.
